As the number of electrical appliances increases, the use of small electrical motors also increases. Motors are typically incorporated into appliances such as vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances, and any other power accessory used in home or business.
Magnet wires are typically connected to terminals having insulation displacement slots, such as the terminals from Applicant's Mag-Mate electrical connectors. The terminals have two insulation displacement slots which cut through the tough outer varnish coating on the magnet wires providing good electrical connection to the magnet wire. The Mag-Mate terminal can either be connected to a plug terminal, for example by a leaf spring contact or, alternatively be connected to a receptacle terminal, for example by an integral tab contact extending in the opposite direction from the insulation displacement slots.
In order to interconnect with a mating lead, various means for lead connection have been provided, such as poke-in latches for directly receiving the wire, tabs for receptacle terminals, posts for wrapping wire thereabout, wire barrels or solder tabs. Contacts of this type have performed admirably and offer many advantages. However, with these prior art terminals for connecting magnet wires to lead wires, it has been difficult to effectively connect the magnet wires to harnesses and the like which are used in appliances and other such devices. Therefore, as the industry becomes more and more sophisticated, it becomes necessary to provide electrical contacts that further enhance the assembly processes of components and allows for ease of repair and replacement. In addition, as the complexity of the electrical appliances and the like increases, it is beneficial to connect the motor and components in series through the use of harnesses. However, due to the configuration of the magnet wire terminals, the connection of the harnesses to the terminals has been difficult.
It would, therefore be beneficial to provide an electrical connector assembly which allows harnesses to be easily and effectively connected to the magnet wire terminals. In so doing, the harnesses may be easily disconnected and reconnected to allow for ease of repair or replacement of the individual components during assembly and in the field.